The Beginning part 2 AKA Another Weird JC Romance
by hebrewhernia
Summary: This is drama and romance. It's Cassie's POV. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 53 & 54!This is my newest J/C series. CHAPTERS 4 & 5 ARE HERE!!!!!!!! IT'SA DOUBLE WHAMMY!!!OH YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Default Chapter

I lay here in bed, awake. Awake in my new house, about half a mile from Jake and Marco's houses. I can't sleep- I can't help, can't stop thinking about them. Jake, Marco, and Tobias, on a mission to rescue Ax. I can't help thinking, fearing that I'll never see him- and them- again, that on the mountain we said goodbye for the very last time. I still love him.   
  
I can't help the "if only's". If only I had been there for him. He *shouldn't* have to be strong *all* the time. He doesn't have to. And, although he likes to think he can, he *can't* be strong all the time, 24/7/365 all his life. I need to let him know. I should have let him know. If only I had told him.  
  
He proposed, all those years ago. I told him to wait a year. He said it was harsh.   
Well, I guess it was, that he needed me most right after the war. He still does- need me, that is. I could tell when we said goodbye. I still love him. I think he still loves me too. We both just need to get over Rachel's untimely death.  
  
He thinks it's his fault she died. It isn't; if he wasn't leading, and someone else would, it would be their fault. It wasn't his fault, personally; it was the leader's fault, and Jake was the leader.   
  
I can't help thinking that this wasn't the way it was supposed to turn out. We should have been married. If- no, *when* he comes back, with or without Ax, I'm going to propose to him.Think positive thoughts, Cassie. My name is supposed to be Cassie Berenson, I can tell. What if he turns me down? Then that's his problem. He wouldn't turn me down anyway. He loves me and I love him. I'm proposing as soon as he gets home.  
  
A/N: What do you think? This is a prologuey companioney thing to my newest J/C drama/romance series. It's mainly but not just J/C romance. Maybe some Marco/other. OOH! I got the bestest idea of who. I'm not telling though. Read my fic as soon as I post it and you'll find out. :) Well it wouldn't be me without some sorta cliffhanger! :-D 


	2. The Flashback Begins

A/N:******SAPPINESS ALERT! SAPPINESS ALERT! SAPPINESS ALERT!******  
**You have been warned.**  
Here is my lovely ficcy. As always, watch for the sap factor--like almost all my fics, there's a whole lotta sap. This is for all the J/C sap fans and all the people who thought that the end of book 54 was way too incomplete. I thought it was too incomplete so I'm writing this. REMEMBER: Just because the books are over, doesn't mean the fics have to stop. I'm going to be churning out tributes to each Animorph, starting with Rachel. Also, this is going to be pretty long.   
CHAPTER ONE  
  
"I love you," I whispered to Jake.  
"Love you too, Cass," he whispered back sleepily.(A/N:And the sap begins)  
  
Now, it was 5 years since the war ended, and we were both 21, and, if you hadn't guessed, married to each other.  
  
I remembered years ago, just before and after he came back from Kelbrid space, and he was so depressed...  
  
  
**BEGIN FLASHBACK**  
I drifted off to sleep. The clock read 10:08.  
::RING RING::  
::RING RING::The telephone rang.  
  
"Hello?" I mumbled, still half-asleep.The clock read 2:57 AM.  
  
"Cassie? It's Jake," he said.  
  
"What is it Jake? Are you back from space? Did you *have* to call me at 3 in the freaking morning?" I assaulted him with questions.  
  
  
"I'm getting back, and I thought you would want to know that I was back, and that's why I called at 3 in the morning.I'm really sorry Cassie. I missed you, I love you, and I'm *really* sorry," he said, sounding hurt and apologetic. And I could swear there was almost a note of depression in his voice.  
  
"Oh, Jake, it's okay, sorry for being grumpy. I missed you, too. I love you, too. When are you getting back? When can I see you?" I asked.  
  
"Tomorrow I'll come to your house about 10 AM, okay?" He said, well, almost happily.  
  
"Okay, now if you don't mind, I need to go back to bed. I need my beauty sleep. I love you. Goodnight." I said.  
***SAPPINESS ALERT! MAJOR SAP FACTOR!! You have been warned***  
"You don't need any more beauty sleep. You're beautiful already." He said.  
  
Wow. Had he really missed me that much? I sure had missed him...  
Why did he seem so sad? Why was he so, well, upset and offended when I got annoyed? I'd find out tomorrow...  
  
A/N: ::Winces::Okay, that was too much sap, but KAA did a sucky job in terms of JC sap in book 54--I had to make it up!!I am glad that is written. R&R please! Next chapter coming soon. As soon as I recover from sap overload, 'kay? Buhbyezz. This is Momo Claus, signing off... 


	3. 

My alarm went off at 8:30 that morning.Although he wasn't coming until 10, I had a surprise --well, several, actually-- for Jake, and I wanted plenty of time to prepare.   
  
So I showered, made sure I looked nice, and started making breakfast. By then it was about 9:15.  
  
I could actually cook pretty well. I made pancakes, eggs, hash browns, french toast, regular toast, and put out some cereal too.   
  
Then I went back into my bedroom and checked the top drawer of my nightstand. Good. It was still there.  
  
I checked the clock. 9:45. I still had 15 minutes. I decided that the house wasn't as neat as it could be. I put on some music and started tidying some things up. Just a couch cushion that wasn't straight here, or something little like that. Then I decided that everything was too nice. The house didn't look lived in.   
  
So I made the couch cushion crooked again, and put the newspaper on the table, and set the table for breakfast.  
  
Then I thought 'Wait. What if he already ate?' So I took a quick bite to eat, just enough in case he already had something.  
  
Can you tell I was nervous?  
  
'Relax, Cassie. It's just Jake. You've known him forever. Okay, so you like him, and you haven't seen him for nearly two years, but he's still Jake!'  
  
I was interrupted from my thoughts by the doorbell. I turned the music off and answered.   
  
"Hi Jake!" I said.  
  
He smiled one of those rare smiles, the one that always looks so out of place on him. But he still looked good. **sigh**  
  
"Hi Cassie," he said, a little nervous, a little uneasy, a little awkward.   
  
It turned out he hadn't eaten yet, so I microwaved everything and we sat down to eat. We made small talk over breakfast, mostly him asking about how I was doing, what was going on. A little uneasily, he asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?" I noted that he seemed very uneasy, almost afraid of the answer, when he asked.   
  
The relief was visible on his face when I said no. I didn't know if he meant to make it visible or not, but it sure made me a lot...more at ease to know, or at least be able to guess, that he still liked me-liked me, maybe even loved me as much as I loved him.  
  
He grinned all the way through breakfast. (when his mouth wasn't full, that is!) He complimented me on my cooking (sincerely), but then again he had been eating freeze-dried space bars or whatever for the last year and a half.  
  
After breakfast, we went into the living room and talked some more. When he was done asking me questions, he did something I certainly wasn't prepared for.  
  
We were sitting next to each other, and he leaned in and kissed me, right on the lips. After that, I said,   
  
"What did I do to deserve that?" I asked playfully yet full of curiousity.  
  
"I missed you." He said simply."I love you and I missed you a whole lot. Plain and simple."  
  
"I missed you too. I love you too." I said. I was feeling a lot of deja vu here. It was our conversation at 2 am. I miss you, I love you, etc. Not that I didn't like it, but it got awfully old.  
  
"What did you do out there, anyway? What made it take so long? What made you miss me so much?" I asked curiously.  
  
"Well, we.................................................(insert the half of book 54 where they leave for Kelbrid space and are about to ram the Blade Ship).....................................................................so then I said to ram the Blade Ship because we were faster, and then..."  
  
_______________________________________________________________  
  
A/N: I know that was mean of me to leave a cliffhanger. Cassie and I are both doing the deja vu thing. This is just like WLJ/CR where I apologized for the cliffhanger. I do so well with cliffhanger romances involving flashbacks. Oh well, R&R please. Do ya like it? Do ya love it? Do ya want some more of it? Did I listen to too much country music when I was younger?("I like it, I love it , I want some more of it" is part of a Garth Brooks song)  
One last word--wait no 2--  
LIFEHOUSE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ANIMORPHS ROCKS!!!! 


	4. 

"and then, there was this incredible whoosh feeling, and this incredible impact. We were all knocked off our feet, and Tobias, who remained a hawk, hit the wall and nearly died. He morphed just in time. It would have been another casualty in my hands, my fault..." he trailed off and just rocked back and forth. Even I, who can read people, didn't understand. Maybe he was depressed? Maybe my second surprise would have to wait...  
  
"Well, we did a scan on the Blade ship, and everything was dead. So we explored it. Even The One was dead. We never did find out about he/she/it. Maybe he/she/it had something to do with The Five. Remember? With the Venber and all?..." he trailed off again, but at least he had come out of his little funk.  
  
"Nothing at all was left on that ship. Nothing. When we rammed it, we killed everything. All systems shut off.It was from the impact, because our ship was faster. Much faster. Another few deaths at my hands, my responsibility. But hey, what's another few compared to the few hundred Hork-Bajir and Taxxons and humans I practically killed?..." he went back into his little funk again.   
  
I pondered. I'm no psychiatrist, but Jake was clearly depressed. Seriously depressed. Possibly clinically depressed. My surprise would definitely have to wait. I was having my own problems with dealing with the war. I couldn't deal with his.  
  
It was so hard. Something would remind me of the war, of a bad time, and I'd go home, and collapse in tears, absorbed in memories. It was especially hard when something reminded me of Jake.( That's how the surprise I have for him came about.) When something reminded me of him, I'd go home, collapse, remember, look at pictures of him, and wish he wasn't off risking his life in alien territory.   
  
"So then we turned around, jumped to Z-space, and headed home. And now I'm here. And so many others aren't....Ax...Rachel...Tom..." On the word "Tom," his voice cracked, and his eyes filled with tears. NOW was the time to ask. It was time for........(A/N: suspenseful music plays ^_^)........................the surprise.   
  
"Jake," I said,"you seem really upset. I have to go get something, so you just take a minute to calm dowm, okay?" He nodded silently and I gave him an awkward sideways hug and a kiss on the cheek.  
  
I went into my bedroom, got the box out of the drawer, and....  
________________________________________________________  
A/N: Another cliffhanger. Again, the Kelbrid space thing isn't the MAIN part of the story, so it's sketchy. In the words of one of my best friends, DEAL WITH IT! This is a SAPPY fic. It has SAP. R&R please. 


	5. 

A/N: the little star line separates Cassie's POV from 3rd person. This applies to the rest of the fic and is generally used when referring to Rachel (you'll understand when you get to the end.  
  
__________________________________________________________  
and....  
I opened it. Good. IT was still there.   
  
I walked into the other room, where Jake was sitting. Just sitting. I sat down next to him.   
  
"Remember, a couple of years ago, during the war, in the anaconda habitat at the then-decimated Gardens?" I asked, foreshadowing the conversation that was about to come. "Remember what you asked?" he nodded. "And what I told you in response?" he nodded again. I could tell he was curious. "Well, it's been a year. More than that. So what I'm trying to say, trying to ask is..." I paused, uncertain if my surprise was going to be recieved well. I looked into Jake's eyes and said with conviction, "Jake, will you marry me?"   
  
He looked shell-shocked. Absolutely flabbergasted.   
  
"Yes, Cassie. I will marry you." He said with the same conviction as I had asked, the same absolute certainty that this was what he wanted.  
  
"Although, you did beat me to asking," he said playfully, with a smile on his face, reached into his pocket, pulled out a small black velvet box, and opened it. Inside was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. It was gold, with one small diamond on it. Plain and simple, yet beautiful and elegant in its own right.  
  
Tears rolled down my face and his. Tears of happiness.   
  
"BUT I have one condition." I said. Jake was depressed, and he wouldn't do something about it unless I made him. So I was going to make him do something about it. Or else he couldn't marry me. Plain and simple manipulation. I didn't like it, but it was for his own good.  
  
"What?" he asked, curious.  
  
"You have to get professional help for your depression. I'm no Dr. Freud, but you are clearly depressed. Like, clinically depressed. And that's perfectly okay. But you need help, or you'll be sad your whole life." I said in a very take-charge tone of voice.  
  
"But...I'm perfectly okay," he said.  
  
"Listen, Jake. You. Are. Depressed. You. Need. Help. Not to be rude, but I have no time, *no time*, *NO TIME*, for any crap. I have a life to live. I have some teenage years to make up, because I missed them. I want to spend time on dates with you, not crying with you or trying to cheer you up. It is perfectly normal to be upset, but you are depressed. I have done this little shpiel exactly once before. Everyone was sick and Tobias was giving me crap about being in a cage in my barn. So you are going to listen and do what I say, or this whole thing is off." I said with absolute confidence and certainty.  
  
"Okay. Rachel would approve." Jake said.  
  
We leaned in and kissed each other....   
*************************************************************  
And Rachel, wherever she was, smiled to herself and said, "Yes. I definitely approve. Now, let's do it!" She chuckled and focused on something else....  
__________________________________________________________  
A/N: Sorry it was so short, but it accomplished what it needed to accomplish. If you're overloaded on sap and need something funny and not serious to read, I strongly recommend the highly hilarious "Animorphs invades Whose Line is it Anyway" If you always dreamed of seeing Drew Carrey become a wombat, READ THIS FIC! Read it anyway. Enough endorsing other fics just R&R please. Sorry if this isn't good (of course it is,it's sappy, but...) but it only took me like half an hour, not even, so wait for the next chapter, which might actually be funny, somewhat. 


	6. A phone call or two and MORE SAP!!!

......  
***RING RING***  
***RING RING***  
The telephone rang. I woke up on the couch, groggy and disoriented. Bit by bit, everything came back to me. Jake and I fell asleep (FULLY CLOTHED-- nothing happened) on the couch watching TV(okay, not watched, more like made out in front of-- then after awhile we started watching). He woke up and left around 11. He said he'd call me.  
***RING RING***  
"Hello?" I said groggily.  
  
"Hi Cassie," said a voice, familiar but not Jake's.....not Tobias...  
  
"Am I interrupting a make-out session or can we talk?"  
  
"Marco?" I asked.  
  
"Who else would it be? Can we talk?"  
  
"Yeah shoot what's up?"  
  
" 'The opposite of down. Of course that is in relativity because in anti-gravity there is no down...' or something like that."  
  
"WHAAAAAAAA?"  
  
"Ax-man said that once."  
  
"Oh. Seriously, what. I just woke up." Then I glanced at the clock. WHOA! 9:47! I NEVER slept that late.  
  
"And why would you just be waking up?" Marco inquired with a mischievious tone of voice. I could practically hear his raised eyebrow and ever-present smirk.  
  
"Because Jake and I were up half the night making out like the teenagers we used to be." I said equally mischieviously.  
  
"AHAHAHAHHAHHA!" Marco laughed.  
  
"Well, we spent most of the time we would have normally spent doing that saving the world!" I said indignantly and loudly over his hysterical laughter.  
  
More laughter. He thought this was just hilariously hysterically funny. Which I suppose it was.   
  
"WHAT did you want to say Marco?" I asked impatiently.  
  
"Well, this morning at like 6 I was awakened from a phone call by our good friend-and your more than a friend (haha)- Jake who was hyperactively happy in contrast to his normally depressed self lately. At first I thought he was manic-depressive. Then he told me that you guys are, well, engaged. So I was just calling to say congrats."  
  
"Um, okay, that's nice. Thank you. I think you were probably right about him being manic-depressive. Or at least depressed. We're only getting married if he gets professional help."  
  
"That's great." Marco said, sounding surprised. At that moment, the doorbell rang, so I got out of bed, pulled on my robe, and walked to the door. I peeked  
  
"Oh,no, it's Jake" I muttered under my breath.   
  
Marco must have heard me. "What?" he asked.  
  
"Jake's at the door, and I'm still in my PJ's. I gotta go." I said nervously.  
  
I'll call him on his cell phone to distract him while you put on normal clothes. I am the BS master. I will use redundancy to obscure a lack of topic in my conversation with him." He said.  
  
"Thanks Marco, I owe you one. Bye," I said, hung up, and ran into my room. I quickly threw some jeans and a t-shirt on and pulled a brush through my hair. I ran and opened the door.   
  
"Hi Jake!" I said.   
  
"Hi Cassie," he said. Then, into the cell phone, "She finally opened the door, Marco. Gotta go, bye."  
  
"Hi Jake! What's up?" I asked after he came in.  
  
"Not much, I just..." he trailed off and seemed embarrassed.  
  
"What, Jake?" I asked. I was concerned.  
  
"I just.....had this feeling, y'know? Like I had to be near you. So I came over."  
  
(A/N:SAP! YAY! SAP! ALL TOGETHER NOW- AWWWWwwwwwwwww!!)  
  
I pulled him over to me and hugged him. He bent down and kissed me on the lips, a soft and sweet kiss. We hugged tighter. "I love you." He whispered to me.   
  
My insides melted, and I could just barely reply, "I love you too."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: In the next chapter: MORE SAP! Why is Jake really there?   
  
R&R please!  
  
  
  
  
  



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